pleach

pleach /pleech/. noun or verb. An interlacing or intertwinement that forms a lattice, usually of branches or stems. To form such a shape to plait or braid. From Middle English plechen, from Latin plectere (to plait).

“Wouldst thou be window’d in great Rome and see
Thy master thus with pleach’d arms”
(William Shakespeare, from Antony and Cleopatra)

“The roof was pleached of flattened oil tins.” (William Gaddis, from The Recognitions)

“They seemed to sleep, but Alex knew there to be a spotlight in every driveway ready to go at the slightest intrusion by man or leaf. Inside, each house was pleached by those invisible lasers, criss-crossed through the landings and the stairs.” (Zadie Smith, from The Autograph Man)

“If that pleases you. It fell out that in nineteen-sixty-two Tom pleached, plashed and entwined himself with one Eileen Bishop. In due course he pollinated her and there sprung up a fine young son.” (Stephen Fry, from The Liar)

“His nest, the pleach Of many a wilding bough in the next giant beech.” (J.H. Wife, from Aonian Hours)

“Around them the branches of the pleached limes twisted and entangled like a conspiracy. ” (Michael Dobbs, from The Final Cut)

“…one could see the old city with its streets running straight as a die, and the Emperor’s summer palace, the roofs of Schönbrunn, and the paths bordered by pleached trees.” (Sandor Marai, from Embers)

“I veered on to a slip-road and, at sixty miles per hour, ground my sore right foot into the brake pedal. The bladder of the Hitch, so intimately pleached and triced in the seatbelt, jackknifed forward and then, even more horribly, twanged back into its bucket. I find it difficult to duplicate the double-groan he gave…” (Martin Amis, from Experience: A Memoir)